Confused about a $9.5 billion business closing its doors in a dispute over how to split up the goodies?

Don’t worry about it. So is Mike Ditka, who has been associated with the NFL only since the Bears made him the fifth overall draft pick 50 years.

“I hate to see what’s happening right now,” Ditka said by phone in advance of a trip to Denver to address the Jewish Family Service’s annual fundraiser May 17 at the Grand Hyatt.

“I think to a degree, it’s a power struggle, I really do. Egos have gotten in the way of reason. I think common sense would be much better served if people would just think about the situation, think about where they’re at as players and owners in life, and try to make this thing work.”

At 71, Ditka is as old school as old school gets. He admits he sometimes has trouble relating to the modern player.

“Some of the younger players, the comments they make don’t make any sense,” he said. “Somebody saying they make $12 million a year, and they’re saying people call them a slave? I mean, I’m not sure I really understand any of this. There’s nowhere in society where you can go out and make $12 million. Nowhere! If you’re a rocket scientist, you can’t do it. You just can’t do it!”

That would be a reference to Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who likened the NFL to “modern-day slavery,” a remark defended by Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall, who created his own storm this week by deploring the celebration of Osama bin Laden’s death, then clarified those remarks.

“People got to understand that the opportunity is there for them,” Ditka said. “Football is not an end in itself, but it is a means to an end. I heard Mendenhall’s comments, and I’m shocked. As an American, I’m shocked. But he’s entitled to his own opinion.”

Ditka reserves most of his sympathy for former players struggling to get help from the league and the players association for their health care. As chairman of the board of Gridiron Greats, he has helped to raise money for troubled former players.

“I’ve had four hip replacements,” he said. “I probably need a shoulder replacement right now. I’m going to hold off on that. I can still play golf, so if I can get through the year, we’ll see what happens at the end of the year.

“My mind, I think I’m OK, but I find myself going from one room to the next sometimes and wondering why the hell I went. Other than that, I think I’m OK.”

I assured him that particular issue is not reserved to football players.

Ditka, who coached the 1985 Bears to a Super Bowl championship, encountered the modern epidemic of brain damage as he watched the deterioration of the late Dave Duerson, who played strong safety for that team and shot himself in February, asking that his brain be autopsied for signs of football-related damage.

“There’s no question, I think his brain showed he had some changes that occurred over time, probably from hits he took in college and high school and pro football, but the thing that happened with Dave is he became very angry,” Ditka said. “He lashed out at me a couple of times, and I understood it.”

Like a lot of older players, Ditka is convinced the modern helmet, designed to provide more protection, is actually part of the problem.

“When I played the game, we had a very simple plastic- shell helmet with a foam rubber padding inside of it,” he said. “Then they moved to a suspension helmet, and the helmet today is almost a weapon. It’s a heavy instrument that really takes all the fear out of striking with your head. And I think this is where a lot of the head injuries are coming from.”

I couldn’t let him go without asking about today’s Bears and their former Broncos quarterback.

“Jay Cutler is a talent,” Ditka said. “Nobody will argue that. I think part of playing quarterback is talent. The most important part of playing quarterback is leadership. And the way you act and the way you conduct yourself around your teammates on the sideline, with the media, all those things.

“Now, I can’t speak for Jay in the sense of, I don’t know what being a diabetic does to you. I have no idea, so I can’t really speak to that. But I’m just saying that he needs to improve his body language, and I think everybody would admit that.

“But as far as the game of football and the ability to throw the football, he does that very well. And I think the other quality we got to get to is the leadership thing. You’ve got to be able to lead as a quarterback.”

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